Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) (18 page)

Monday morning came with the
unstoppable eventuality of all dreaded things.  Funny, when we’d first
moved here, I’d have paid good money for the distraction of assignments….lots
of them…but my sheltered, safe, almost dream-like summer had brought on the
realization those assignments would be paired with countless, unfamiliar
faces.  More people to treat me like I didn’t belong?  Or would
Canada somehow, magically differ from my past school-year experiences? 
For that prospect, I didn’t hold much hope, and found the prospect of getting
out of bed to be quite the hefty challenge. 

“Come on now, Mink.”  Caelyn
was finally reduced to physically rousing me from my bed, coming into my room
and ripping the blankets away from my pajama-clad body.  “I cleared the
first part of my morning, so I’ll drive you.”  I didn’t move and eyed her
with disinterest.  “I’ll even walk in with you if you like?”

I thought about it for a moment and
mulled over the fact not much could make me less popular than I’d already been
all of my life.  I figured I was entitled to a little comfort.  “Ok,”
I agreed and skulked off to the bathroom to get ready.

After a quick shower and dressing
in a black velvet dress with matching leggings, I went in search of eggs and
meat.  After, returning to the bathroom to add a bit of powder I really
didn’t need to my alabaster-pale cheeks, calling forth my lashes with a bit of
black mascara and brushing out my long, dark hair.  Caelyn had trimmed it
up a few inches at the beginning of the summer, but now it was long enough for
me to sit on again. It had continued to gain luster and shone darkly under the
bathroom lights, falling into meandering waves.  I was amazed.  My
hair had never been this luxuriously beautiful before. It made me smile as I
pinned the front parts out of my eyes with Hello Kitty clips Caelyn had found at
the mall for me.   I remembered the throng of strangers I’d have to
face today and quickly took them out, letting the thick strands fall forward to
better hide my face.

It turned out though, high school
in Canada was unlike my past experiences in Pennsylvania.  The classes
were made up of a mix of kids from all over the world.  The faces didn’t
all blend together, and it seemed almost everyone was different in his or her
own way.  Of course I got the usual ‘new-girl’ stares, but I reassured
myself it was just because I was someone they weren’t used to yet.  I had
several people come up and introduce themselves, but no one stood out. 
Ron weighed too heavily on my mind all day. 

I wondered how his first day of
classes was going.  Then deliberated whether or not Caelyn would let me
change our Skype night, so I wouldn’t have to find out bit-by-bit, over the
course of many texts.  Strategizing a way to bend my mother to my will, filled
up the last couple of hours of school, although I did managed to scrawl down my
list of assignments…my new Canadian teachers weren’t wasting any time.  I
couldn’t even get all the books I needed into my backpack.

The school was only about a half
hour walk from our apartment building, so I decided to ditch the bus and get
some fresh air.  The weather was perfect—one of those mild September days
that announce the arrival of fall.  Ron had an evening class, so I had
time to kill.  I sent him a text, on my way home, letting him know I’d try
to convince Caelyn to let us ‘see’ each other that night.  He immediately
sent back a little smiley face.  I had the urge to text again, to ask if
he was having a break from class, but managed to restrain myself.

Once home, I busied myself with
housework and the makings of spaghetti with huge meatballs and garlic bread,
trying to fill in the hours until my mother got home from work and Ron from
university. 

At times, I was distracted by the
noises in the building.  The walls must have been thin in places, because
I could hear voices and other household sounds emanating from the other
units.  The sounds echoed on top of each other, coming from the apartments
next door, across the hall, overhead…very strange acoustics, indeed.  At
one point I would have sworn our next door neighbor was in the same room with
me, singing her quiet lullaby to her infant daughter.  The remainder of
the hour was spent with the volume cranked on the latest
Final Fantasy
game—I’d acquired a PlayStation pity upgrade from my mother—shutting out all
the overwhelmingly close sounds bearing down on me.

As soon as Caelyn was through the
door, I pounced, begging with unrivaled conviction that finding out about Ron’s
first day—and recounting my own—was of vital importance.  My mother’s mood
had drastically improved since we’d moved to Vancouver.  She was actually
beaming down at me…clearly amused at my frantic attempt to sway her
decision…during my whole argument, leaving me hanging in silence when I’d
finally finished.  I was certain she was doing this on purpose.  I
widened my eyes to emphasize I was awaiting a response.

“Sure, go ahead, why not,” she
waved a hand carelessly in the air.

I was immediately suspicious. 
“Are you ok?”

“Yes, of course.  Just a very
productive day at work.  We got the contract for that fancy new
hotel.”  She looked extremely proud of herself—she’d been schmoozing that
client all summer.  That explained it.  Lucky me for wanting
something on exactly the right day!

“Congrats!”  I gave her an
enthusiastic hug, before running off to my beloved laptop.  “Oh do you
mind to turn the sauce down in five?”

“No problem!”  Was that a
giggle?  From Caelyn?  Oh well, strange behavior aside, at least she
was happy.

Once settled at my computer desk, I
logged into Skype…to find a surprise.  I had a new friend request…from
Merina!  I clicked to accept and saw she was online.  Perfect timing,
because Ron was not, and I hadn’t talked to her, excepting one email, since
we’d moved. 

As I slid the mouse to place a call
to her, one from her came through.  I answered, and my screen was filled
with her radiant, pixyish face.  “Hi Maura!” she squealed.

“
Merina
!
It’s so great to see you!  How’s everything there?”

She rolled her eyes, “Oh, just as
boring as ever.  My parents finally got me a laptop for my birthday, so
now we can talk to each other!  But, who cares about tiny Indiana, how is
Vancouver
?” 
She breathed the last word as if I lived in some fairytale forest or something.

“Well, it’s not horrible…ok, except
for the missing-all-of-you part.”

“You mean missing Ron!”  She
gave me a knowing look, and I nodded.

“Yea, you’ve got me there. 
That part is very, very hard.” 

“I don’t know how you do it.”
 Her expression was solemnly empathetic.  “I don’t know how I could
be apart from Shane!”

“So you two are still doing great,
I take it?”  I grinned, relishing in her good fortune.

“Yep!  Hey, they’ve got
another gig this Saturday.  One of the other frat houses.”

I was momentarily troubled. 
Saturday was ‘date’ night.  But  I quickly brushed it off, happy for
the band’s success.  “That’s great!”  I hoped she hadn’t caught my
initial reaction.

“I know, right?”  She was all
smiles, so obviously she hadn’t. 

We chatted for half an hour about
the first day of school, what she and Shane had done over the summer and a few
details from my chats with Ron.  Caelyn came in then, and was surprised to
see Merina instead of Ron on my screen.

“Oh hi,
Merina
!” 
Merina waved at my mother.

“I haven’t talked to Ron yet!” I
interjected in a panic.

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t worry,
Maura, I was just coming to tell you to take your time tonight.  I’ve got
the spaghetti sauce on simmer and the oven is preheated, we can just pop in the
garlic bread once you’re done.”

“Oh, ok..”  I didn’t know what
else to say.  This was new.

When she’d closed the door Merina
commented, “Wow, she’s really relaxed a lot about you and Ron, huh?”

“She’s in an unusually good mood
tonight,” I answered, still following her retreat with my eyes, in a bit of
shock.  “Oh! Ron just came online!  I’m sorry!  Do you mind if I
go talk to him?  I promise we’ll Skype again soon!”  I felt guilty
for running out on her.

“No worries!  Shane will
actually be here any minute.  We’re going out to celebrate my senior
status and his first day at college.”

“Oh yea, he started with Ron today
too.  You’ll have to tell me how his day went next time, for sure!”

“I will!  Ok, I gotta go get
ready.  Tell Ron I said ‘Hi!’”  Then she was gone…and Ron’s call was
coming through.

I took a deep breath, then
answered.   It didn’t matter.  The sight of his face took that
deep breath right away.  I managed a small, squeaky, “Hi!”

“Hello there.”  There was something
bothering him.  This wasn’t his typical, exuberant greeting.  “I have
something to tell you.”  Yes, he was definitely worried.

“Let me guess,” I turned my eyes
heavenward, like I was concentrating on algebra.  “I’ve got it! 
Saturday date night is cancelled.”

The shock in his expression made me
giggle.  “H-how did you…”

I burst into laughter, “I just
talked to Merina.” 

“Ah, now that explains it!” 
He relaxed a bit.  “And you’re not upset?”

“What kind of girlfriend would I be
if the good fortune of another gig made me angry?”

He looked completely happy then.
 “Thanks, Maura!”

“Besides, that is an excellent
argument for having date night a day early.”  I winked at him playfully.

“Sound reasoning, Miss
DeLuca.  We do have rehearsal that night, but I’ll have to squeeze it
in.”  He put his hand up on the screen and I placed my fingers on top of
his, trying to touch him across all the miles between us. 

Time seemed to crawl, every day,
until Friday arrived.  Since our Skype schedule had changed, Thursday date
night wasn’t happening.  It was like no one told my body.  I was
restless and twitchy all night.  Caelyn told me more than once to stop
fidgeting, during the movie we were watching.  I couldn’t comply, so she
finally banished me to my room.

“Sorry, Maura, but you’re driving
me crazy!”  She gave me her most penitent look.

Finally Friday arrived!  Fully
aware I’d failed my geometry quiz, given my complete inability to concentrate,
I’d stumbled through the day in a daze.  All I could focus on was 6:00 pm
and video access to Ron.  We’d have less than an hour, but his last class
went until 5:45, and rehearsal was at 7:00.  After classes that dragged at
snail’s pace, I was finally run-walking across the school parking lot, anxious
to get home.  Video games would make time fly much faster than lectures
about the area of triangles or the deconstruction of
Wuthering Heights
…not
that I didn’t love that novel…I just wasn’t in the proper frame of mind to
enjoy classic fiction.

“Maura!” 

There was a dark-haired boy
sprinting toward me, a sheepish grin on his face.  Uh oh.  This boy
had been sneaking peeks at me in the three classes we had together all
week.  I tried to remember his name—something like Darren or David.

He came to a standstill in front of
me, entrenching himself too far inside my personal space for comfort.  At
that moment, a sharp pain drilled down through my skull like someone had driven
an ice pick into my head.  It was like taking a too-big slurp of slushie
through a straw—a cold, sharp pain.  This unpleasantness was accompanied
by a very solid flash of Ron’s face in my head.  Like someone had
imprinted his image physically on my brain tissue.  During that brief
flash, I was able to take in every little detail…the warmth of his eyes, the
exact color of his lips…like the moment was frozen on pause, in front of my
eyes.  I gasped in shock and pain.

“Are you ok?”  He placed a
hand on my shoulder, worry coming into his expression.  The pain
intensified.

I managed a response, though,
“Ow!  Sorry Darren, my head just started pounding.”  I took a step
back from him, and his hand fell away from my shoulder.  The pain subsided
a bit, but I was still wincing in remembrance.

“
Ummm
,
it’s Damien,” he corrected.  “Sorry about your head.  Are you ok?”

I took another step back from him,
“Oh!  Damien!  So sorry about that.  It’s hard being the new
girl, you know.”  I could feel myself blush over my blunder.

“I’m sure.”  He had ice blue
eyes—a major contrast to his nearly black hair.  “I wanted to see if you’d
go to a movie this weekend.  With me.”  His finish came out soft, weak,
nervous.

A shock of violent pain tore
through my head.  I raised my hands to it in response and my pack dug into
my shoulder.  “Oooow!  Sorry Dar—Damien.  I can’t.  I have
a boyfriend.  Ow!  So-so-sorry I have to get home!”  I wondered
if my eyes would start bleeding, the pain was so intense.

“Oh…” he looked hurt, and I felt
bad about that, but was in too much pain to do anything other than turn my back
on him and stumble towards home.  The agony began to diminish to a dull
throb.

“Maura!”

Was everyone in the school trying
to keep me from my home and the soft comfort of my PlayStation?  At least
I didn’t have another guy to fend off.  This voice was barely audible and
decidedly female. 

Although I just wanted to get home
and, perhaps, skip the video games in favor of a nap, I turned back to
her. 

She approached slowly, shyly. 
I recognized her from English. Susie?

“Hi, sorry to bother you.” 
The girl had huge eyes—green like my mother’s.  Her hair was a shade too
dark for dirty-blonde and hung just below her chin in a straight bob.  I
noticed a very few, light freckles scattered solely across her nose.  Like
someone had sprinkled her once with a cinnamon shaker.